June 07, 2020 (MLN): The latest weekly economic roundup provides a summary of the key economic and financial developments from the preceding week.

The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group decreased by 0.42% during the week ended Jun 04, 2020 while the SPI increased by 9.17% compared to the corresponding period from last year.

Pakistan's Forex Reserves decreased by USD 1,677.80 Million or 9.02% and the total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at USD 16,920.10 Million on May 29, 2020.

The pace of foreign selling from Pakistan’s debt market slowed down by Rs 5.92 billion during the week ended May 29, 2020. The overseas investors pulled out Rs 1.18 billion from the local markets via SCRA, marking the 14th straight week of net selling.

Foreign Investors dumpedaround Rs. 20 billion worth of securities via Specially Convertible Rupee Accounts (SCRA) during the week ended May 22, 2020, which is around 60.5 percent higher than the figures recorded last week.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Pakistan signed an agreement with the grant agreement of $5.28to expand support for Pakistan’s response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province through the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF).

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet has set up a body headed by Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Petroleum Mr Nadeem Babar to explore various call options for hedging prices for the petroleum products imported by Pakistan.

The non-government sector has retired a net sum of Rs.30.55 billion during the week ended May 15, 2020, which brings the cumulative net borrowing for ongoing fiscal year FY2020 to Rs.254.31 billion. The net borrowing as of prior week was recorded at Rs.284.85 billion.

The government of Pakistan has acquired an additional debt of Rs.309.5 billion during the week ended May 22, 2020, which brings its total net borrowing for the ongoing fiscal year 2020 to Rs.1781.51 billion. As of prior week, the government had borrowed a net sum of Rs.1472.02 billion.

The impact of the construction package announced by the government is yet to be seen as the domestic cement uptake declined by a massive 37.63 percent to 2.27 million tons in May 2020 from 3.64 million tons in May 2019.

Foreign companies operating in Pakistan repatriated $190.4 million in profit and dividends on investments in the country during the month of April’20 which was 6.2x higher than the profits repatriated in the previous month and 1% higher than that of repatriated in April’19.

The rate on National Saving Schemes (NSS) has been cut in the range of 48 to 90 basis points, with effect from June 2, 2020.

Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) witnessed a 39% increase in volumetric sales of petroleum products, reached to 1.48 million tons in May’20 over April’20 as the easing of lockdown restrictions kicked in along with a substantial reduction in POL price, bringing industry volumes for 11MFY20 to 14.5 million tons.

Pakistan's information technology (IT) and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) export remittances comprising of computer services and call center services have surged to US $1.003 billion at a growth rate of 23.42% over the first 10 months of Financial Year 2019-20 (July – April), in comparison to US $812.648 during the same period in FY 2018-19.

The government has released a sum of Rs 69,567.359 million for various water resource projects under the annual Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for the fiscal year 2019-20 so far.

June 05, 2020 (MLN): The Weekly Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) for the Combined Group decreased by 0.42% during the week ended Jun 04, 2020 while the SPI increased by 9.17% compared to the corresponding period from last year.

According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the Combined Index was at 127.78 compared to 128.32 on May 28, 2020 while the index was recorded at 117.05 a year ago, on Jun 06, 2019

Out of the 51 monitored items, the average price of 15 items increased, 12 items decreased whereas 24 items registered no change during the week.

The weekly SPI percentage change by income groups showed a mixed trend with SPI ranging between -0.67% and 0.07%.

The Lowest Income Group witnessed a weekly increase of 0.07% while the highest income group recorded a decrease of 0.67%.

On an yearly basis, analysis of SPI change across different income segments showed that SPI increased across all quantiles ranging between 7.3% and 13.38%.

Yearly SPI for the Lowest Income Group increased by 11.16% while the highest income group recorded an increase of 7.3%.

The average price of Sona urea stood at Rs.1637 per 50 kg bag which is 1.09% lower than last week’s price and 11.47% lower when compared to last year.

Meanwhile, average Cement price was recorded at Rs.553 per 50 kg bag, which is 0.54% lower than the previous week and 2.79% higher than prices last year.

June 05, 2020: U.S. stock indexes jumped on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite less than 1% away from a record high, after a closely watched report showed surprise job additions in May, lending weight to hopes of a faster economic rebound from a coronavirus-led slump.

Data from the Labor Department showed nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.509 million jobs last month after a record plunge of 20.687 million in April, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 13.3% in May from 14.7% in April.

"It's shocking, it's a refreshing thing to experience, a very positive and a far better-than-expected report," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"The unemployment rate was likely to peak in May and then get better from there, but it looks as though it might have peaked in April, which is a very positive development for the economy."

The S&P 500 banks sub-index, considered interest-rate sensitive, jumped 4.8% as U.S. Treasury yields rose after the data.

Boeing Co gained 9.2%, the biggest boost to the Dow Jones index, on hopes of a pickup in air travel a day after American Airlines Group Inc and United Airlines said they would boost their U.S. flight schedule next month.

June 05, 2020: The U.S. economy unexpectedly added jobs in May after suffering record losses in the prior month, offering the clearest signal yet that the downturn triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic was probably over, though the road to recovery could be long.

The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday also showed the jobless rate falling to 13.3% last month from 14.7% in April, a post World War Two high. It came on the heels of surveys showing consumer confidence, manufacturing and services industries stabilizing.

Economic conditions have significantly improved as businesses reopened after shuttering in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by 2.509 million jobs last month after a record plunge of 20.687 million in April. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the unemployment rate jumping to 19.8% in May and payrolls falling by 8 million jobs.

U.S. stock index futures sharply extended gains. The dollar rose against a basket of currencies. U.S. Treasury prices fell.

"These improvements in the labor market reflected a limited resumption of economic activity that had been curtailed in March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to contain it," The Labor Department said in a statement.

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